Chechen Rebels Take 650 Hostage In Moscow

October 24, 2002|By John Daniszewski and Sergei Loiko Foreign Correspondents

MOSCOW — In a meticulously planned terrorist strike that brought the war in Chechnya into the heart of Russia's capital, as many as 50 armed men and women took over a musical theater in mid-performance Wednesday night and held about 650 people hostage, threatening to kill them if police rushed the building.

The camouflaged and masked attackers, described by witnesses as Chechens laden with weapons and explosives, demanded an immediate end to Russia's war against separatist rebels in their republic.

Coming as the war seemed to have settled into an ugly, deadly standoff, the seizure during a performance of the Russian musical romance Nord-Ost represented the guerrillas' boldest challenge yet to the government of President Vladimir Putin.

The attack came only a few weeks after the third anniversary of the day Russian troops re-entered Chechnya, the breakaway republic in the northern Caucasus region that had gained de facto independence from the Russian federation after a war in the mid-1990s.

The takeover at a Soviet-era theater near Taganka Square in southeast Moscow continued into the morning hours today. Scores of police and special forces surrounded the theater.

There was no immediate identification of the attackers from authorities. However, Aslamek Aslakhanov, a Chechen representative in the lower house of parliament, said his sources had identified the leader as Movsar Barayev. His uncle, Arbi Barayev, was a warlord notorious to Russians as a kidnapper and trader in Russian captives in Chechnya until he was killed last year.

The hostage-takers "have just one demand -- to immediately pull out Russian troops from Chechnya," said another member of parliament, Vyaschylov Igrunov.

"I was enjoying the show when some people jumped on the stage dressed in camouflage uniforms and wearing black masks," said Alexei Ryabov, who was attending the performance with his mother as a present on the eve of his 14th birthday. "One shot in the air."

Ryabov was among about 18 children and about a dozen ethnic Georgians or other nationalities who were allowed to leave the theater. He saw the gunmen laying down cables in the hall and across the stage.

"They said we have a bomb here and the hall is now mined," he said.

John Daniszewski and Sergei Loiko writes for the Los Angeles Times, a Tribune Co. newspaper.